Fra Mauro

Although he was no longer free to travel, due to his religious status, he would frequently consult with merchants of the city upon their return from overseas voyages.

By 1450 he composed a great mappa mundi – a world map – with surprising accuracy, including extensive written comments reflecting the geographic knowledge of his time.

The Fra Mauro world map, or mappa mundi, was a major cartographical work that compiled much of the geographical knowledge of the time.

Andrea Bianco, a sailor-cartographer, is recorded as having collaborated with Fra Mauro in creating the map, as payments made to him between 1448 and 1459 testify.

A commemorative medal of the period struck in honor of his cartographic work describes Fra Mauro as "chosmographus incomparabilis".

[1] The other was recognized by Antonio Ratti as a copy signed by Giorgio Callapoda at Candia and dated 1541, of a lost chart by Fra Mauro, sold at auction in Milan in 1984[2] and now in a private collection, probably in France.